The Flying Foxes. 101 Squadron, the RAAF’s premier night fighter squadron
Northrop P-61A Black WidowAs the Allies progressed across the South West Pacific, the Japanese became adept at small scale nocturnal air raids. To counter this threat in its parts of the theatre the RAAF opted to found a specialist night fighter unit. Initially it was hoped that aircraft for this squadron could be sourced from Australia, with the Beaufighter and Mosquito being the obvious choices. However a shortage of building capacity, coupled with the need to adopt the airframes to carry radar, meant delivery times would be too long.Instead, the RAAF requested P-61 Black Widows from US stocks.
101 Squadron was formed at RAAF Batchelor in December 1944 and began training. Initially the unit used a mix of Ansons and Beauforts, for twin engine aircraft experience, until the new P-61s began to arrive in January 1945. Conversion to the new type took some time, and the squadron wasn’t ready for deployment until May 1945. As a squadron symbol a bat was thought the most apt, so the unit adopted an Australian flying fox as its logo, carrying an outline drawing of the type on the tail of its aircraft. Additionally the P-61s were soon marked with a sharkmouth design, to help personalise the aircraft amidst the large number of US types then in Australia. Both the badge and the sharkmouth would eventually be carried by all the types operated by the squadron, and the nickname the Flying Foxes would become the common name for the unit.
With its arrival in Bougainville, the Squadron was quickly in action, intercepting a Kawasaki Ki-48 Lily on only its third day in theatre. The radar equipped P-61 proved to be a very capable night fighter and by the end of the war the squadron had chalked up 23 kills, a pretty good total considering that most operations were targeting only one or two Japanese aircraft at a time.
With the peace time wind down 101 Squadron was slated for disbandment, but at the last minute a reprieve saw the unit kept on the active roster. Initially the P-61s were retained, but a jet powered type was preferred as a replacement.
De Havilland Vampire NF10 As the RAAF had already selected the DH Vampire as it’s first jet fighter and had negotiated a licence to build the type locally, the selection of the NF10 Vampire as its new night fighter was no surprise. Like the new FB30 Vampires, the RAAF NF10 fleet were fitted with “elephant ear” intakes to increase air flow to the TYPE engine. As all of the NF10s were built in one batch, they retained the intakes on the upper part of fuselage. 101 Squadron received its NF10s in 1949, allowing the retirement of the last of the P-61s.
The war in Korea saw the RAAF deploy 77 Squadron with Mustangs and later with Meteors. A plea from the UN High Command for additional night fighters in response to growing numbers of North Korean and Chinese night time air raids saw 101 Squadron off to war again. Deployment to Kimpo Air Base began in May 1952, with 8 NF10s being used to counter communist air raids. Consideration was given to replacing the Vampires in Korea with Meteor NF models, but the lead time on deliveries was considered too long, so the Vampires would see out the war. By the time of the armistice the squadron had claimed 14 aircraft shot down, with no losses.
Avro Canada CF100 Mk 4B After the Korean War, the Vampires continued in service, but a replacement was required, as the Vampires were outdated and stood no chance intercepting any modern Soviet fighters. After an evaluation of suitable types, the RAAF opted for the newly designed Avro Canada CF100, ordering 24 Mk4B aircraft. These were delivered from May 1956, rapidly replacing the aged Vampires.
The CF100s were stationed at Tindal in the Northern Territories, to act as a defence against potential intrusions by Indonesian aircraft.
The CF100s were well liked by their crews and the RAAF had no immediate plans to replace them until the TNI-AU took delivery of Tupolev TU-16. The CF100 was unable to match the speed of the TU-16 and its lack of missile armament meant that the CF100 was not capable of bringing down a TU-16 unless at very close range. A replacement was needed and the two most obvious candidates were the Gloster Javelin and the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo. While the Voodoo was preferred by some within the RAAF, its lack of gun armament eventually saw it excluded, leading to an order for 24 Javelins.
Gloster Javelin FAW 9 The RAAF order was made up of 8 aircraft drawn from RAF stocks, plus 16 newly built aircraft. The initial 8 were delivered to 101 Squadron in July 1962, allowing the unit to form a flight using the new type. The changeover from CF100 to Javelin was completed by the end of 1964. The Javelin was to have a short service life with the RAAF, lasting until only 1970. Its career was fairly quiet, as the change of government in Indonesia meant the threat from the north diminished. By the time the RAAF began to consider a replacement for the Javelin, the service already had sufficient Mirage IIIs in use, which were more than capable of night time and bad weather interceptions, and the need for a specialist night fighter had come to an end.
101 Squadron was stood down on 31 October 1970, and the Flying Foxes were finally grounded.